"Everyone! And I mean everyone! Go to the prefects and collect your potions and anti-evil curse cloaks—"
"Once you get your dragon-hide gloves and dragon-hide boots, inspect them carefully. This batch was rushed, so the stitching charms may have failed. Anyone with that problem, report it to a prefect and register it—"
"You there, Mr. Frank, don't just leave the school-issued bags on the ground! And don't point your wand at them! They have Undetectable Extension Charms on them. If your own mistake causes the charm to fail, there won't be a second set of supplies for the damaged items!"
"Good heavens, who brought in this Magical Creature? I've said it countless times: don't bring Magical Creatures you can't tame into Hogwarts. In battle, it might not be able to help you. Take it to Professor Scamander or Mr. Wallop... What? You said Hagrid? No, no, no. If you want your Magical Creature to turn into something else, then go find Hagrid."
"Mr. Finnigan, I'm giving you full authority. Make every bomb you can make! I have only one requirement: don't let them explode right now, and don't blow Hogwarts into the sky!"
Hogwarts was like an outrageously noisy marketplace. Perhaps wizards had grown too used to being lazy; at a time when everyone was preparing for war, they always managed to cause one trouble after another. If she had not already been tempered by war before this, Professor McGonagall might have gone mad during the coordination phase alone.
All the supplies from Diagon Alley had been transported over. The Wallop Charitable Association was operating at full capacity, gathering every resource they could buy, while the Hogwarts School Board provided massive support for whatever funding fell short—Lucius Malfoy had walked out of his office unable even to stand steady.
The